Have you opened 2 Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts for your daughter? Check govt guidelines

New Delhi: The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance had issued guidelines for processing the cases of regularization of irregularly opened accounts under various National Small Savings Schemes through post offices.

In a circular issued in August this year, the DEA introduced new guidelines to regularize irregularly opened National Savings Scheme (NSS) accounts, PPF accounts opened in the name of minors, multiple PPF accounts held by the same person and PPF accounts extended by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). The guidelines also cover Small Savings Scheme accounts opened in the name of minors, except PPF and Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts (SSA), as well as Sukanya Samriddhi Accounts opened by grandparents who are not the child’s legal guardian.

The DEA has issued guidelines explaining what will happen if more than two SSY accounts are opened in the name of a daughter or if an SSY account is opened by grandparents who are not the child’s legal guardians.

(a) In the case of accounts opened under the guardianship of grandparents who are other than legal guardians, the guardianship shall be transferred to a person entitled under the law in force, that is, to the natural guardian (alive parents) or legal guardian.

(b) If more than two accounts are opened in a family in violation of Para 3 of the Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme, 2019 then the irregular accounts shall be closed by treating it as an account opened in contravention to the scheme guidelines.

The circular said that all post offices are directed to obtain PAN and Aadhaar details of the account holder(s)/guardian if not already available without fail and feed the same in the system before forwarding the regularization requests to this office.

All post offices will take urgent action to identify such accounts and inform account holders of the approved guidelines through all channels. All circles/regions/divisions were requested to proactively track cases that need regularization so as to avoid inconvenience to account holders of the small savings schemes.

Who Can Open Sukanya Samriddhi Account?

A Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened for a girl child before she turns 10 years old. The account can be opened at post offices or at notified branches of commercial banks. The rate of interest is 8 percent per annum, calculated on a yearly basis and compounded yearly.

A Sukanya Samriddhi Account can be opened with a minimum of Rs 250 and a maximum of Rs 1,50,000 in a financial year. Subsequent deposits are in the multiples of Rs 50. Deposits can be made in lump sums. There is no limit on the number of deposits either in a month or in a financial year.